Panic bolt



June 26, 1928. 1,674,760

WQ J. CARROLL PANIC BOLT Filed Febrl, 1524 2 sheets-sheet 1 June 26, B928. L

W. J. CARROLL PANIC BOLT Filed Feb. 1, 1924 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented .lune 26, 1928.

UNETE- STATES p il anni. GFFIICE.

WILLIAM J'. CARROLL, OF-VEST HAVEN, CONCTICUT, ASSIGNOR. T0 SARGENT &

COMPANY, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

vPANIC BOLT.

Application filed February This invention relates to. emergency exit which are applied to doors of schoolhouses, theaters, department stores, and other public buildings, for facilitating exit where a fire or the like causes a panic, and are usually applied to one of a pair of `swinging doors where one of the doors normally remains closed.

The invention relates more particularly to panic bolt mechanism in which thedoor 1s provided with bolts adapted to engage keepers or strike-plates in the lintel and floor, respectively, and arranged to. .be released from the said strike-plates or keepers by the operation of a panic bar on the inner face of the door. l In some of its aspects', however, the principles ot' my invent-ion are not limited to this type of device, although shown yin connection therewith in the accompanyin,c drawings.

It 1s necessary in such structures to provide mechanism whereby the bolts when retracted to permitv the door to open will be retained in this retracted posi-tion, so that the door will freely close, although usually a spring is provided to urge thefboltsnormally to protracted position. In someinstances, a detent is provided in the bolt case to hold the bolt in retracted position, and a lug or stopv is provided on the door frame to coact with the. detent when the door is closedv to releasel the bolt.. andV permit'its actuation by the spring to protracted position. In the use of such mechanism, however, a person opening the door ysometimes depresses the panic bar only far enoughk to disengage the bolt from the keeper sc as to permit the door to open, and not sufficiently far enough to withdraw the bolt completely into the tbolt case'fwhere it will be engaged by the detentY and retained in'retracted position. In such case, whenthe bolt is only partially retracted,and the detent does not become operative, the bolt is immediately protracted by its lspring when the panic bar is relea`sed,-`and hence willV prevent the door freely closing. The contact of the protracted bolt against the door trame when it is at tempted to close the door causes .the trame to become mutilated, besides causingthe inconvenience of having` to litt vthe panic bar to retract the bolt when it is desired to close the door.

One object of invention is to overcome 1, 1924. serial No. 689,994..`

the disadvantages referred to, and Vto provide an improved type of bolt for a panic bolt which will always be maintained in position to allow the doorto close.

Another object of my invention is to provide a. panic bolt with a bolt mechanism suoli that the bolt will be retained in. any position to which it is retracted to permit the door to open.

yIt is a further object of the invention to,v

provide a bolt of such shape, in a panic bolt, that once it has been retracted to a suliicient extent to permit the door to open, it will be maintained in the proper position to permit the closing oil the door, although the bolt contemplated is one of the dead bolt type. l

To these and other .ends the invention consists in the novel features and combination of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

ln the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is an inside elevational view of the upper part oi a door having applied thereto a lock embodying my improvements.

Fig. 2 is a sectional View on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the position of the parts of the panic bolt mechanismas the door is abo-ut to he opened.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the ypanic bolt structure. when the door is opened.

Fig. 5 is a. rea-r elevational view of the upper bolt case removed from the door.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on line 7-*7 of Fig. 6.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention which l have illustrated in the drawings, I have shown at 10 a door provided with a panic bolt mechanism, which includes a panic bar 11 pivoted at one end to an escutcheon 12 and at the otherrend to a case 18 applied to the door stile. 'The panic bar 11 is provided with a finger 14 extending into the case 13 and disposed be.- tween abutments 15 and 16 connected respectively to the rods 17 and 18 which extend to the bolt mechanism at the upper and lower edges of the door. The bolt controlling mechanism within the caseA 13 may be oi' any preferred type, such as that shown ,in the patent to Voight, No. 1,545,041, dated June 29, 1920, wherein a spring 19 is wound about a post 20 secured to the case to normally urge both'upper and lower bolts tor protracted position.

The rod 18 extends upwardly within a case 21, and is connect-ed at its upper end to a bolt stem 22 provided with a head 23 adapted to project from the case and engage the opening 24 in the door lintel to` employed to retain the bolt in protracted position. l To the end that this function may be accomplished in a practical and et iicient manner regardless of the extent to which the bolt is retracted, I have arranged a detent which willengage the bolt in any ot a number oit positions.

.The vbolt-stem 22 may be slotted or bifurcated, as shown at 25 in Fig. 5. and within this slot may be positioned the plunger 26 ot a detent 27 designed to engage the bolt-stein. The plunger 2G may be formed with an interior bore, as shown in Fig. 6, and mounted upon a stud 28 upon Y the case 2l, so thatfit may norniallyrb'e urged to operative position by a spring 29. The detent 27 is in the form of a 'Hat base or crosshead secured to the plunger 26, and providedwith a longitudinally extending pawl 30 to engage any one of a series ot ratchet-teeth 8l on the. stem 22 on both sides of the slot 25, so that 'the bolt will be se cured and effectively held in the position to which it is retracted. Then the door is closed the plunger 26 is arranged to strike a stop 32 upon the lintel ot the door, and is thus moved against the tension of the spring 29 to inoperative position so that the bolt will be protracted by the spring l9`into engagement with. its keeper.

It may sometimes occur, due to the fact that the teeth 8l must bespaced at least a slight distance apart, that the bolt'may be retracted to a suilicient extent to clear the keeper or strike-plate 33, and at such time the pawl 30 would lie between two ot the teeth 3l so that when the door is opened the bolt will spring upwardly a slight distance until the pawl engages the tooth directly below it. The bolt in this position might ordinarily be tooA high to pass the keeper when the door was closed, and hence would strike against the keeper and prevent the free closing of the door.

I have obviated this disadvantage by forming the bolt with a bevelled end tace 35 such that lthe height of the bevel .is ap 'proximately halt' or more ot the distancebetween two adjacent ratchet-teeth 3l. It will kbe obvious. that if the bolt is retracted nntil the high edge 36 thereof will pass the keeper Vref/afzet be no obstructionin the wayk of the doorv closing. Y While I have shown and described preferred embodiment of my invention, it 1s to be understood that it is not tobe limited'V to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within theV spirit or' the invention and wit-hin the scope*k of the appended claims. u

Whatv I claim is:

l. In a panic bolt, a keeper, albolt ed to be projected into engagen'ient withthe keeper, means normally urging said bolt to protracted position, a series of'stops provided upon the bolt, .and meansto selec tivelyengage said stops to hold the bolt in K any one of a plurality of retracted positions said stops being adapted to limit the`out- Ward movement of said bolt only.

2. In a panic bolta keeper, a bolt adapted to vbe projected into engagement with' the keeper, means normally urging said bolt to protracted position, a series of stops provided upon the bolt, means to'selectively engage said stops to hold the bolt in any one adapt' of a plurality of retracted positions, said stops being adapted to limit the outward movement of said' bolt only and means to render said Vlengagiirg when the door is' closed. y

3.- In a panic bolt, a keeper, a case, a bolt therein adapted to be projected into engagement with the keeper and normally urged to protracted position, means for retracting said bolt, a series ot'ratchet-teeth on one side of said bolt, and apawl mountedV between the bolt and case `to engage/any one of said ratchet teeth'tor the purpose d escribed.

4. In a panic bolt, a keeper, a case, abolt therein adapted to be projected into engage ment with the keeper and. normally urged tov protracted position, means forl retracting said bolt, a series of ratchet teeth on one side of said bolt, a pawl carried by the case adjacent the said side of the bolt toengage any one of said lratchet-teeth, and means for moving saidvpawl out otengagement with the ratchet-teeth to permit the protrae? tion of the bolt when the door is closed.

5. In a panic bolt, a keeper, a bolt case, a bolt reciprocably mounted therein and normally urged into protracted position "to engage the keeper, said bolt being provided with a slotted portion within the ease anda detent mounted on the case and extending within said slot to engage the Ybolt andretain it in retracted position.

meansV inoperative Mit) 6. In a panic bolt, a keeper, a bolt-case, a bolt reciprocably mounted therein and normally urged into protracted position to engage the keeper, said bolt being provided with a slotted portion within the case and a detent mounted on the case and extending within said slot to engage the bolt and retain it in retracted position, said detent having a plunger. projecting from the case and adapted for engagement to release the bolt to permit the protraction thereof.

7. In a panic bolt, a keeper, a bolt adapted to be projected into engagement with the keeper and normally urged toward protracted position, means for retracting the bolt, said bolt being provided with a plurality of stops, a detent to engage any one of said stops to secure the bolt in a retracted position, said bolt being provided with a head having a bevelled face for the purpose described.

8. In a panic bolt, a keeper, a bolt adapted to be projected into engagement with the keeper and normally urged toward pro-tracted position, means for reti-acting the bolt, said bolt being provided with a plurality of spaced stops, a detent to engage any one'of said stops to secure the bolt in a retracted position, said bolt being provided with a head having a bevelled face for the purpose described, the pitch of said bevel being less than the distance between two adjacent stops.

9. In al panic bolt, a keeper, a bolt adapted to be projected into engagement with the keeper and normally urged toward protracted position, means for retracting the bolt,

said bolt being provided with a plurality of ratchet-teeth, a detent to engage any one of said ratchet-teeth to secure the bolt in a retracted position, said bolt being provided with a head having a bevelled face.

l0. In a panic bolt, a casing, a bolt slidably mountedjherein, the stem of said bolt being bifurcated, and means for dogging said bolt against movement, comprising a plunger slidably mounted in the casing between the bifurcated parts of said bolt and provided with a crosshead adapted to engage said parts.

l1. In a. panic bolt, a. casing, a bolt slidably mounted therein, the stem of said bolt being bifurcated, and means for dogging said bolt against movement, comprising a plunger slidably mounted in the casing between the bifurcated parts of said bolt, and provided with a crosshead adapted to engage said parts in any one of a plurality of positions to hold the bolt in retracted position within the casing.

l2. In a panic bolt, a case, a bolt slidably mounted vin thev case and having a slotted portion, a series of teeth on the parts of said bolt on the sides of the slot, a stud on the bolt case adjacent said tooth portion, a spring pressed plunger mounted on said stud and projecting through said slot and the opposite side of the case, and means on said plunger to engage the bolt teeth on both sides of the slot.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand on this 29 day of J any., 1924. i

WILLIAM J. CARROLL. 

